


does the bell still toll for thee?

by petrichor (findingkairos)



Series: gentle beating of mighty wings [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, and then pulled into an entirely separate fic instead of part of chapter 8 of seiryu, reader requested extra, that has been crossposted from FF.net, there are no good endings here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 04:12:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13356240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/findingkairos/pseuds/petrichor
Summary: In a hundred and one worlds, human society itself is threatened by the Millefiore.Unfortunately, this is one of them.





	does the bell still toll for thee?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [northpeach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/northpeach/gifts).



> You all can thank northpeach over at FF.net (and on AO3!) for the extra. As they were the 100th reviewer they were given the choice of a prompt, which was a future scene from the Official Timeline, along with "Reborn." This was the result.

In the end, Reborn had not been the home tutor of one Sawada Tsunayoshi. But, ten years later, he _is_ one of the few mentors that can claim to have shaped the Vongola Decimo's life.

(He shares the title with others, but finds that he doesn't mind.)

**-[ ]-**

The first time that Reborn realizes the Mafia Boss that Tsunayoshi has become, it is during a meeting. More specifically, a _retatliation_ meeting.

"We've linked this guy to our previous leaks," Gokudera Hayato says. Left Hand Man or not, most often he is the one to debrief the rest of the Guardians.

(Yamamoto shares that duty, but he is less of a briefer and more of a tactician, to the surprise of absolutely no one.)

Tsunayoshi hums from where he sits at the head of the table. Beside him, Yamamoto spreads out a few more papers – copies of what Gokudera is reading off of now. "That mess over in Puglia, Sicily, _and_ the violent discovery of our branch base in China is his fault," he notes.

Around the table, Guardians blink, come to attention. If there had been any humor or annoyance at the summons in their faces, there is no trace of them now, long-fled from expression.

 _Cornelio Norelli_. Initially one of their intelligence agents, recruited approximately a year ago. He'd underwent the standard hazing and background checks, and had come up clean.

 _Too clean,_ they realize now. And now the Vongola are _paying_ for it – not just in money. No, if it had just been monetary, Tsunayoshi wouldn't be half as mad, Reborn knows.

From what he can see from here, leaning against the doorframe in the very essence of casualness and fooling absolutely no one, Sawada Tsunayoshi is _angry_.

And he is not alone. That China base had not just been a branch operation – baby Mafioso had died in that raid. The youngest had been twelve, picked off the streets as a runner.

 _Wrong place, wrong time,_ goes the old adage, but that is not enough for the Tenth Generation of the Vongola.

A moment, and two, and the silent contemplation of the Vongola Decimo, then: "Ryohei. Chrome. Take care of this, would you?"

They both nod, grim expressions on their faces, as Gokudera slides over the more extensive files to them – habits, mannerisms, expected difficulties, preferred combat method. They are lucky Hibari is not present, having deigned this meeting as not important enough to attend. And Reborn knows that Tsunayoshi had given him an entirely separate file.

Cornelio Norelli had not acted alone. If he were any other person, Reborn would have felt pity for the Di Micale Famiglia.

…Sawada Tsunayoshi had not felt a single scrap of regret, picking his harbingers of vengeance. Guilt, maybe, for doing it in the first place and doing this the Mafia way. But not regret.

(One can't choose to send out Vongola Decimo's Strongest Guardian, as well as his Sun and Mist Guardians, arguably the best and strongest hand-to-hand and illusion specialists in their Famiglia, with regrets or self-doubts.)

The _World's Greatest Hitman_ tilts the brim of his fedora down instead.

(A part of himself – the part that has adapted to life in the Mafia, the part that has accepted his gruesome role and his life within it – is strangely proud.)

"Is there anything else we need to take care of?"

**-[ ]-**

Of course, then Tsunayoshi goes and _does things_ that surprise him.

"You've agreed to meet with them?" he asks. Frankly, he's resisting the urge to turn Leon into a hammer and hit the young man with it to addle his brains back into seeing _sense,_ but he won't. He doesn't have his temper on a hair-trigger. He _doesn't._

Tsunayoshi sighs. "They're an up-and-coming Famiglia, Reborn," he explains. It has the tone of the long-suffering, of one who's explained this many times before. _Maybe he had,_ Reborn thinks, but doesn't feel guilty for doubting at all; this idea is simply that crazy. "It'd only be wise to have a meeting, show good will beforehand."

"The Gesso want to _destroy the world._ They made a fucking _announcement_ to that extent already."

"The Gesso also were a relatively small and unknown family until recently. For all we know, it could just be a new inheritor that's come into power and that no one likes."

Over their glaring match, Reborn seriously contemplates hitting Tsunayoshi on the head with a Leon-hammer.

"I've already talked with both Takeshi _and_ senpai about this, Reborn. I'm not going to change my mind." Tsunayoshi turns away at Reborn's blink, his only tell of his surprise, and shrugs. He's staring out the window, the one that overlooks the manor gardens.

The sun is out today, Reborn knows, and the sky is a clear, clear blue.

If Tsunayoshi has talked with the _Yamamotos_ and is still insisting on this foolish venture, then Reborn won't stop him. "Fine. _Fine_. When is the meeting?"

"I still have to send a missive," the Vongola Decimo admits, and his sometimes-tutor, nowadays-Advisor sighs explosively.

**-[ ]-**

The Gesso turn down the proposed meeting.

The Marina Famiglia – _a minor shipping Famiglia, a dose of tax evasion on the side, who doesn't? –_ is…

…there is no other word for it. They are _annihilated,_ barely a week after.

**-[ ]-**

The world watches as the Gesso grow stronger, and stronger, and eventually brings the Giglio Nero to their side to merge into the Millefiore.

(A day after that particular piece of news, Reborn disappears into the underworld. _To confirm a rumor,_ is what he tells the Vongola, and they nod and swallow that lie, and he tells himself that he is _not_ panicking.

But no matter where he looks, or how, he cannot find an explanation as to _why_ Yuni would agree to a merging of Famiglias. There are no threats, there is no blackmail. There is only the attack on her own Famiglia, and a meeting, and then, not a week later, a merging.

Reborn tilts the brim of his fedora down and moves onto the next informant, Vongola mobile ringing on silent mode in his equally silent bolthole-safehouse.)

**-[ ]-**

Then –

And then –

 _There was a crash at the Crotone Airport today, from the Alitalia Airline. Reports are claiming that it was due to an engine malfunction of one of the flights coming in from Japan, flight number 229A, killing twenty-three and injuring fifty-two more. We have not been able to speak with the Airport Director yet, but we have been able to acquire a list of the deceased and injured_ –

Reborn doesn't need the list to know; the evidence is in the halls of the Vongola Mansion, at the way that the servants carefully make themselves disappear and only make themselves heard when they are needed, the way that the butlers steer clear of the inner circle's way.

…

…

…Yamamoto Keiko had been on flight number 229A. Tsunayoshi still has the confirmation printed out and on his desk, visible proof that his senpai is coming home.

…

…

… _had_ been coming home.

**-[ ]-**

The Gesso – the _Millefiore_ begin their attacks on the Vongola.

**-[ ]-**

Hibari comes, stays for a week, and goes. Reborn watches him take his leave with sharp eyes and the brim of the fedora hiding his eyes.

Tsunayoshi goes and finally has that meeting with the Gesso – no, the _Millefiore._ He takes Gokudera and Yamamoto with him as backup. All three leave armed to the teeth and with no regrets about that fact.

(The entire Famiglia had closed ranks, after those first few difficult weeks.)

(Later, Reborn will know, that Guardians had not been allowed at the meeting, and that none of their preparations will have made one speck of a difference.

Still, there is still the _What if – ?_ lingering at the back of his head.)

**-[ ]-**

A sniper kills the Vongola Decimo in a meeting with another Famiglia, his Guardians only two doors away and utterly helpless to change anything.

The Vongola, already shaky from continued attacks on their allies, their bases, their people being stretched thin –

Doesn't fall, but –

…Reborn has to admit, it is quite close.

( _It is the beginning of the end._ )

**-[ ]-**

(And then he goes and gets fatally sick from Anti-Tri-ni-set poisoning, and Yamamoto Tsuyoshi is assassinated, and the Namimori natives are targeted and attacked, and the _Arcobaleno_ are brought down to their knees, and Reborn goes and _dies,_ unable to change a thing, and – )

**-[ ]-**

…the first Ten-Years-Ago self arrives in his own coffin, on a cloud of white flowers.


End file.
